Page 116 of Exactly What I Needed
“Hey, Miss Cosi. Look, I know this is spur of the moment and unusual, but since you somehow managed to get you know, uh, that singer dude to come be a guest speaker in your class, I thought I’d bring my fifth period by and join,” Mrs. Wallace said, and my eyes widened.
“What singer dude?”
“Guest speaker?”
“What’s going on?”
Murmured questions rippled through my classroom as I silently begged, pleading with my gaze, for Mrs. Wallace to leave.
“I know they’re drama kids, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime—” She stopped and looked around my classroom. “Wait, where is he?” she asked, swinging her gaze back. “I led him here an hour ago. And he would stick out like a sore thumb with his tattoos and earrings and well, how tall he is.”
“Will you stop?” I hissed quietly, but she couldn’t hear me over the roaring buzz racing through my students. They knew who she was referring to, or at least were guessing correctly, as I remained absolutely still. Frozen with no idea what I was going to do or say to manage to dig myself out of this.
“Miss Cosi?” Aurora suddenly squealed loudly, above the increasing volume of my roaring students. Even Mrs. Wallace’s class was beginning to whisper amongst each other, hidden behind her plump frame.
“Is she being—”
And the closet door suddenly crashed open.
Several girls screamed, jumping up onto their chairs as Asher came tumbling out of there with a couple coats and my entire emergency supplybucket. It exploded, sending contents across the carpet as he groaned and sprawled out flat on his back.
Silence enveloped the room as if closing a coffin. I heard my students’ jaws hit the floor in shock while I stared at Asher on the floor.
He grimaced, lifting an apologetic gaze to me, and I tried to bite back both the frustration and rather funny sight before me.
“It’s Asher Stone,” Luna suddenly blurted out, breaking the silence, and I immediately missed the shock. Mrs. Wallace’s class shoved past her, flooding my small room. They were at least nice enough to not tackle him as he groaned, rolling over, and pushed himself up to his feet.
“Ladies and gentlemen, surprise.” I unenthusiastically waved in his direction. Well, time to roll with things. He brushed off his pants and adjusted his shirt before coming to stand directly next to me.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered beneath the squeals and roars of the crowd. They were clearly awestruck by the Dark Banshee being in this room with them.
“I was just trying to adjust my positioning. My neck was really cramped,” he continued in my ear.
I swatted subtly at his leg. “Well, you get to teach my class for the rest of the hour now, so work your magic.” With a wiggle of my brows, I gave him a slight grin.
He groaned. “But I’m not a fucking teacher.”
“Then you shouldn’t have fallen out of the closet.” My smile widened.
“Oh, you’re finding this very funny, aren’t you,” he teased, and I nodded subtly. “You can’t complain when your consequences come, Princess. Just remember that,” he whispered, and I felt hot all over. An unexpectedyet welcomed familiar feeling that hadn’t pulsed deep within my core in years.
I sighed, exasperated, and he winked.
“Three years later, and I still got it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped an inch forward.
“Don’t let that go to your head, it’s big enough already,” I hissed in reply as the class finally began to settle down.
“As long as it fits perfectly between those legs, I have no issues.” He grinned, and I didn’t have a chance to tell him to shut his mouth as he walked past me into the center of the room.
He didn’t have to say a word as every student, whether in a chair or squished between them on the floor, silenced. Mrs. Wallace scurried behind him and joined me by my desk while I plopped myself down in my spinning chair.
“I’m sorry I almost ruined the surprise,” she whispered as Asher began speaking. He seemed a little hesitant at first, but slowly got into the groove of things as time wore on.
Leaning back farther in my chair, I took a deep breath in, and I realized that things weren’t agonizingly silent. My eyes slid back to Asher, who straddled a chair and crossed his arms over the back of it while he answered some question from a girl in Mrs. Wallace’s class.
I could hear it again.
It was really faint, hardly more than a whisper of a bow across some strings, but it was back. He was back.
